In the search for peace, sometimes calm comes from unexpected sources...
Cecil Benningfield, the tenth Duke of Thornton, is having a difficult time with life. After the war with Napoleon, his mind is not quite right, which has led him to remove himself from society and everything else the beau monde values-including his wife. All he wants is calm, to work the land, and perhaps keep bees, anything to stave off memories of the horrors he'd enacted, as long as he stays in control... of everything.
Emma Benningfield nee Wingate, Duchess of Thornton, is not best pleased with her husband of two years. When she'd married Thornton upon his return from the war, he had the potential to become everything she dreamed of, but then he left her in London to reside permanently in the country. Though it is difficult navigating his mercurial moods and penchant for carnal exhibitionism, she refuses to let him ignore her; they are either married, or he needs to cut her loose.
As she enacts a series of scandals to gain his attention, the rumors reach his ears, which stokes his ire. When he returns to London, he seeks advice from his friends at Club Damnation, then Cecil embarks on a quest for forced proximity and to win her back despite the challenges, chilling secrets, and dark desires keeping them apart. Yet even then, it might already be too late for a potential second chance romance. Only time will tell.
...and sometimes it's found in the very darkness that gives the struggle.
